One of the hearts of business development is increasing your sales numbers and growing your customer base. For new businesses, this requires crucial steps like creating a clear and effective sales process and learning how to communicate well with your customer base.
If you've never done either of these things before, it can be daunting to get started. To help executives craft effective sales processes, we asked a panel of Forbes Business Development Council members to explain some of the steps that help them strengthen customer relationships and improve sales. Here's what they had to say.
1. Set And Share Your Agenda
Setting an agenda at the top of a sales process achieves two major things. First, it allows your client to relax and allows you to guide the interaction because they know where you are taking them. Second, it establishes trust when you follow the agenda you set. It’s the first expectation you set for the client and when you deliver, it sets the tone for your relationship. - Brandon Ficara, Toco Warranty
2. Know Your Key Stage Metrics
One thing we do very well is we understand our metrics. My team and I know all of our key stage metrics: meeting set rates, meeting held rates, conversation rates, and closed rates. These metrics are backed by years of data, so we know our normalities and anomalies. These metrics allow for better lead qualification, knowing when to pass off a lead, and identifying what's working and what's not. - Christian Valiulis, Automatic Payroll System
3. Listen
Make sure your efforts are focused in the area that is most important to the client and their needs based on what they tell you -- versus what you think they are. Ask pointed questions, and be quiet. Let them answer, and they will give you something you were not aware of more times than you probably realize. You have two ears and only one mouth, so make sure to use them proportionally. - Rich Steffy, The Roof Depot, Inc.
4. Ask For Objections
It is important to understand that objections must be overcome during the sales process, even if the process is going well. Control the outcome of your process by confirming the client's goals and satisfaction with your product and then asking what would hold them back from moving forward. The answer will tell you exactly where your deal stands. - Cortez Armond, Firsthand Inc
5. Allow For Adaptability
When building a new sales process, it's easy for a sales executive to over-script in an effort to leave nothing to chance. The problem with that is it provides no latitude to your sales team to adjust to changing circumstances. Your field sales team holds your quarterbacks, and you must give them the ability to check out of a bad play and call an audible for something that better fits the situation. - Michael Rubin, Alliant National Title Insurance Company
6. Have A Clear Answer To The Question: "Why You?"
You must never leave out why a prospect or potential customer should choose you over others. We all live in crowded industries, and if you don't differentiate and also put forward why you are superior, then why should a prospect pick you? Instead, be the one to show why you offer a better product or service. - Clinton Senkow, Influencive
7. Follow Up On Opened Emails
We have an effective email marketing strategy. First, we send out the initial emails to potential clients and get a fair open rate. The close rate, however, is a work in progress. Then, we go back to the folks who opened the email with a different message, and we get 50 to 70% open rates on the same names. People are busy, and following up can be critical to closing more deals. - Wayne Elsey, Elsey Enterprises
8. Make The Ask
It may seem obvious and extremely intuitive, but whether you are designing a sales page or building a sales process, it is critical to include the ask itself. Making the ask is often the hardest part of the sale process, but without it, a significant pool of prospects may ultimately not buy. To get to "yes," don't forget to make the ask. - Adam Mendler, Beverly Hills Chairs
9. Revisit Prospects Who Initially Declined
When you're creating a sales cycle, it is important to have a stage that exists past a decline. Unless a prospect goes out of business, merges or gets acquired, there is always an opportunity to revisit discussions in the future. In the past, I've called those opportunities our "zombie" stage until an ample amount of time passes to revisit them again. - Tracy Avin, MBL Benefits Consulting
10. Maintain The Relationship After The Sale
When you're building a sales process, one step you can’t forget to touch on is the follow-up and contact with the customer after they've awarded the business to the company. Too many times, salespeople assume their job is done once the sale is made; however, without a good follow-up plan, customers may wander to other vendors. To assure the continued success of an account, always promote following up. - Craig McGraw, Trans American Trucking & Warehouse
